Forex bureaus to return to Zimbabwe

31 July 2009 16:44:13
HARARE (Commodity Online) : Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe on Friday said it has allowed foreign exchange bureaus to resume full operations as part of reforms aimed at reviving the battered economy. In a mid-year monetary policy review, RBZ governor Gideon Gono said the bureaus which have in the last seven years served as money transfer agencies for Zimbabweans working abroad, could now buy and sell foreign currency to the public. Receive $25 free with a Forex Micro account In January, Zimbabwe lifted a ban on the use of foreign currency to stem hyperinflation that had rendered the Zimbabwe dollar almost worthless. The move left Zimbabwe without an interbank market and reduced the central bank to a simple supervisory role as it lacked foreign currency reserves to be the banker of last resort. "The adopted multi-currency system, together with the liberalisation of exchange restrictions on the current account means that the public is free to transact and deal in foreign currency," Gono said in the review published on Friday. "This new development makes it possible for the extension of bureaux de change business to include selling of foreign exchange to individuals, using international cross-rates." Gono said he supported plans to re-introduce Zimbabwe's own currency only when the local economy recovers.